Knights complete non-league slate with loss to UMass-Lowell

Saturday, January 5, 2013 - 11:24 pm

A red-hot UMass-Lowell squad added to the Clarkson University Hockey team’s non-league woes as the River Hawks completed a weekend sweep at Cheel Arena by defeating the Golden Knights 6-2 before 2,087 fans on Saturday night.

Clarkson, which also lost to Lowell 2-1 on Friday, falls to 4-10-5 overall and finished the 2012-13 campaign with a 1-7-4 non-league mark. The Knights, who stand atAlex Boak blocks a shot in front against UMass-Lowell - photo by Mike Tansey 3-3-1 in the ECAC Hockey standings, resume conference play by hosting Brown and Yale next weekend in Potsdam.

Lowell (9-7-1), of Hockey East, jumped out to the fast start in the first period and built a 3-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes. The River Hawks opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal at 3:44 when Chad Ruhwedel tallied on a 2-on-1 rush. Ryan McGrath earned the assist. Shayne Thompson gave the visitors a 2-0 lead when he took a pass down low from Christian Folin and fired in a high shot from the left circle into the top corner of the Clarkson net at 10:01. Less than three minutes later, Scott Wilson scored during a delayed penalty, jamming in a shot at the near post for a 3-0 Lowell lead at 12:52. Josh Holmstrom assisted.

UMass-Lowell added to its lead right after the opening faceoff to start the second period when Riley Wetmore one-timed a pass into the slot from Ruhwedel for his sixth goal of the season just 17 seconds into the stanza.

The River Hawks continued to roll in the third when Wetmore netted his second goal of the night at 9:10 to put the visitors on top 5-0.

Clarkson battled back with a pair of goals with juniors Allan McPherson (Kinburn, ONT) and Will Frederick (Allison Park, PA) scoring in a five-minute span. McPherson banged in a rebound off a shot by freshman Pat Megannety (Oakville, ONT) for his fourth goal of the year at 10:51.

While the Knights were killing off a five-minute major disqualification penalty to junior Ben Sexton (Kanata, ONT), Frederick tallied a shorthanded mark during a push to the net, his fifth goal of the season, at 15:31 with freshman T.J. Moor (Lake St. Louis, MO) earning the assist.

Lowell closed out the scoring with Adam Chapie connected for a power-play goal at 17:47.

Lowell held a slight 24-23 advantage in shots. Freshman Greg Lewis (Mars, PA) made 18 saves for the Knights. The River Hawks went 1-of-6 on the power play while Clarkson was 0-of-3 with the man-advantage.